Comments on: No extra slots, no wardrobe, and plenty of whines: what we learned from Blizzcon Q+Ahttps://spinksville.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/no-extra-slots-no-wardrobe-and-plenty-of-whines-what-we-learned-from-blizzcon-qa/
MMOs and game designFri, 12 Dec 2014 22:24:23 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.com/By: Mathttps://spinksville.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/no-extra-slots-no-wardrobe-and-plenty-of-whines-what-we-learned-from-blizzcon-qa/#comment-12042
Tue, 09 Nov 2010 21:10:17 +0000http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=4753#comment-12042Did no one notice that everything in WoW is highly stylized? Its not only the women, its also the men, all objects and critters, basically the whole world has an unrealistic and comically overdriven feeling. Ever notice how much muscles those male avatars have? They would put most bodybuilders to shame.

Wouldnt it be sexist to make an exception to the rule, just for the females? That would be like saying “Ok, we like our game to be vibrant and over the top, but we cant do this to the female models, because someone might complain.” That sounds just wrong.

Besides… the human, dwarf or gnome female avatars dont strike me to be too sexy, they look rather plain (and i would like to not even talk about the tauren and undead here. To just assume they would be model material is really really weird). Just put them next to a belf and see. So there definitely is variety, even though everything is a hyperbole in this gameworld.

“Where are the panels on gender or disability representation in WoW, or roleplaying different races? Where are the theorycrafting nuts talking about how they approach the task of modelling new mechanics? Where are the panels about blogging, about organising raid guilds, about crafting and items? Where are the panels about the economy? Where are the panels on raids and instances? Where are the panels that talk about MMOs in general?”

This is an excellent question. From my brief scan of the Blizzcon schedule, the opportunities for interesting talks or any sort of discussion seemed very thin. That was honestly a huge surprise to me. I regularly attend a homebuilt aircraft convention every year and at those there are usually more opportunities to learn and discuss than you could ever hope to attend. People go to learn more about airfoil design, fuel mixture, the hazards of bad weather, and so on. Others present talks on what they have learned. I think having opportunities to share expertise is one of the big things that attracts people to conventions of this sort and it is something missing from Blizzcon. The topics listed above would be very interesting, I think, and would make excellent topics for face-to-face discussion (unlike, say, “how to set up macros”).

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Wed, 27 Oct 2010 17:05:50 +0000http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=4753#comment-11837It has a lot to do with the fact that male characters often represent male fantasies, while female characters…also represent male fantasies. There are definitely men who are upset that their options are limited and unrealistic, just as there are female players who don’t see a problem with female NPCs and PCs running around in armored bras, but at the very least, the male character models are designed with men in mind. “Here!” Blizzard is saying, every time they design some hulking brute with spikes jutting out of his groin, “we made these for you!” It may not be what every guy wants, but it’s made for him.

On the other hand, when a female player’s plate outfit often has a midriff top, or her character’s best option for a certain level range is a couple of pasties, panties, and thigh-high stockings, it becomes obvious that her character was not designed for her. Her avatar, the thing that represents her in the game, was made for male players too, and the female heroes were not made for her to identify with, but to be attractive to straight men. It’s fine by Blizzard that she wants to play the boys’ game, made for boys (and give them her money), but there are few if any places where she can point out something that was made for her, and that reflects the fact that women have fantasies of heroism and supercompetence and great deeds just like men and aren’t solely concerned with collecting cute little pets.

That’s why dismissive responses like the one mentioned hurt badly, even if they weren’t meant to. It’s like being told that we’re not real, valued community members, we’re just playing in the boys’ sandbox because they let us, and if we don’t like it, they don’t care if we leave.

]]>By: Michaelhttps://spinksville.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/no-extra-slots-no-wardrobe-and-plenty-of-whines-what-we-learned-from-blizzcon-qa/#comment-11835
Wed, 27 Oct 2010 14:35:56 +0000http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=4753#comment-11835I think it is a stretch to attribute the characteristics of real world animals to fantasy creatures. Maybe all druids in catform have manes the way that in some fantasy worlds all dwarves have beards.
]]>By: Simon Jones who is bloglesshttps://spinksville.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/no-extra-slots-no-wardrobe-and-plenty-of-whines-what-we-learned-from-blizzcon-qa/#comment-11832
Wed, 27 Oct 2010 13:48:48 +0000http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=4753#comment-11832What has Garrosh got left to strip off?

He’s wearing leather pants apparently made from pieces of other leather pants, a giant belt and a pair of spiky tusks he stole from a war memorial.

Anything else and we’re dealing with naked Garrosh. And frankly, waving around Gorehowl will probably have an effect on the game rating.

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Wed, 27 Oct 2010 13:41:09 +0000http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=4753#comment-11831From what I remember there WAS an uproar about the male blood elves being too effeminate way back in beta for “The Burning Crusade”. They actually buffed up the character models to be more acceptable. If you google” blood elf males” the second link that came up for me was a kotaku article about Blizzards statement on it along with a picture of the before and after models.

I remembered thinking how moronic some thinking was behind how they design their models. Nice to see nothing much has changed.

Even assuming that most people want to look at fit models, there’s scope for some variation.

As far as sexier guys go, how many times do our (male) characters get to go shirtless or have most of their chest showing? What WoW really needs is more orc chests – I could even get behind Garrosh if he stripped off more often …

]]>By: spinkshttps://spinksville.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/no-extra-slots-no-wardrobe-and-plenty-of-whines-what-we-learned-from-blizzcon-qa/#comment-11827
Wed, 27 Oct 2010 13:10:26 +0000http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=4753#comment-11827Don’t worry about hijacking topics :) One of the reasons I like threaded replies is that it’s easy for people to reply further to a tangent if they’re interested without disturbing the flow of the rest of the comments (err, not sure how well that reads but you get my drift.)
]]>By: Chrishttps://spinksville.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/no-extra-slots-no-wardrobe-and-plenty-of-whines-what-we-learned-from-blizzcon-qa/#comment-11820
Wed, 27 Oct 2010 07:15:54 +0000http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=4753#comment-11820They still have more than adequate muscalature.

Isn’t there one of them who spends most of the movie with his shirt off?

]]>By: Stabshttps://spinksville.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/no-extra-slots-no-wardrobe-and-plenty-of-whines-what-we-learned-from-blizzcon-qa/#comment-11815
Tue, 26 Oct 2010 18:14:32 +0000http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=4753#comment-11815No, not really. Look at the guys in Twilight. High-cheek boned mournful poet look is a staple of romantic novels. Very few romantic novel male characters are described as being as muscular as WoW characters.
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